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Contents

Foreword

Dear Friends,
News from the Main Line has not been good. The Fat Controller has been having trouble. A short while ago, he gave Henry a coat of green paint, but as soon as he got his old colour back again, Henry became conceited. Gordon and James, too, have been getting above themselves.

I am glad to say, however, that the Fat Controller has, quite kindly but very firmly, put them in their place. And now the trains are running as usual.

I hope you will like meeting Percy. We shall be hearing more of him later.The Author﻿

Stories

With Thomas gone to run his Branch Line, the bigger engines are left to fetch their own coaches, much to their disapproval. One day, Henry is called out to clear a blockage in the tunnel between Tidmouth and Knapford, but when he goes in, an elephant pushes him back out of the tunnel! The workmen give the elephant some water, but Henry surprises it by letting off steam and it sprays water all over him.

Gordon is in a bad mood and when he goes to be turned around for his next train he unbalances the turntable and has to take the train backwards. Thomas and James tease him, but later James is spun around by the wind on the turntable. The big engines have had enough, and make a plan.

The big engines refuse to get their coaches and so Edward is brought in to shunt for them. However, poor Edward is met with hostility and so the Fat Controller buys a saddletank engine, which he christens Percy. The big engines still refuse to come out, so the Fat Controller shuts them up and brings Thomas to work with Edward while Percy runs his branch line.

The big engines finally see sense and agree to get their coaches ready, so the Fat Controller lets Thomas, Edward and Percy play on the branch line. Thomas takes Annie and Clarabel for a run and Edward takes some trucks to the quarry, leaving Percy alone. He strays onto the points, and Gordon scares him when he rushes into the junction. Percy runs away, and eventually, exhausted, runs in a sandbank. Gordon later commends him for preventing an accident and Percy becomes the new station pilot at Tidmouth.

Locations

Trivia

The central theme of this book reflects that, at the time of publishing, there were labour difficulties on the British railways.

In the fifth illustration of "Tenders and Turntables", C. Reginald Dalby and his daughter can be seen in the picture: Dalby is the man on the bench with the luggage, while his daughter is holding a dog on a leash.

The engines saying Edward has black wheels is a play on the word "blackleg", which is a slang term for someone who continues to work amidst a strike. However, the insult might seem odd coming from the big engines, as James actually has black wheels.